PHYSICS 



Oscar Milton Stewart 



Professor of Physics 



It has been aptly said that science had its origin in the 

 desire of men to know. In the earhest times men wondered 

 at the phenomena that came within their horizon. Simple 

 observation discovered some relations. Then after genera- 

 tions of observation the suspicion is aroused that the world 

 about us is not a haphazard collection of facts, but an im- 

 mense and, though intricate, a systematic structure reared on 

 a few fundamentals. 



In the study of this immense structure men have used dif- 

 ferent methods, some laying emphasis on one phase, some on 

 another. So there have arisen from these diverse points of 

 view what we now call the sciences. 



This morning I shall attempt to point out that attitude 

 which is distinctively the attitude of the physicist and that 

 problem which may be called his problem. The field of 

 physics is so broad, it covers so many different types of 

 phenomena, that extended description or statement of details 

 or of the achievements of this work is here impossible. 



The facts of nature are complex. From these facts alone 

 it would be well nigh impossible to ever find system and order. 

 So we try to look behind the scenes, to get back to the simpler 

 and more fundamental things. In doing this certain concep- 

 tions must be formed, the simplest and most fundamental 

 that we can find. These fundamental concepts that we now 

 use are those of space, of time, of force, and of mass. The 

 word force is used in the same sense as when we speak of 



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